Violin-piano



June 16, 1936. 'J WA 2,044,111

VIOLINPIANO Filed Nov. 22, 1955. 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 June 16, 1936. J 1 WARNER 2,044,111

VIOLIN-PIANO Filed NOV. 22, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 June 16, 1936; J. WARNER VIOLIN-PIANO 3 SheetS-Sheefl 3 Filed NOV. 22, 1955 Patented June 16, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 12 Claims.

This invention relates to violin pianos and is designed more especially as an improvement upon instruments of the type shown, for example, in Patent 1,265,147 issued to me on May 1, 1918, wherein the strings are vibrated by key-controlled, movable bowing elements.

An object is to provide a separate vibrator for every one of the strings, it being possible to transmit the vibrations any desired distance from a bowing element to the strings so that it is thus possible to arrange the mechanism in space which is remote from the strings and which otherwise could not be used.

A further object is to provide a bowing element common to all the vibrators and so shaped and positioned that the surface speed thereof upon the vibrators will increase gradually from the lower pitched strings to the strings of the higher pitches.

Another object is to provide vibrators of new and novel construction for cooperation with and actuation by the bowing element.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description'proeeeds, the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claims, it being understood that changes may be made in the censtruction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention has been shown.

In said drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical section through a portion of a grand piano showing the mechanism constituting the present invention.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the piano.

Figure 3 is a bottom plan view thereof.

Figure 4 is a section on line 2-4, Figure 1, showing one of the bowing elements and a portien of the bowing roller.

Figure 5 is an enlarged section on line 5-5, Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a. View partly in plan and partly in section showing a portion of the shutter operab ing mechanism.

Figure '7 is an enlarged detail view of a portion of the drive mechanism of the bowing roller.

Figure 8 is a view like Fig. 4 showing a slight modification.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference, l designates the casing of a grand'piano the top of which is adapted to be closed by a series of slats 01' shutters 2 having end pivots 3 and so arranged and proportioned as to closely lap when in one extreme position, thereby to shut off the passage of sound waves. However they can be moved simultaneously to open position by any suitable means. For example each shutter or slat can have a depending finger 4 at one end, these fingers being joined by a tie rod 5 shiftable by a lever 6 on a vertical shaft 8 mounted in a bearing 9.

This shaft has a lower arm I0 under the key.- board I l where it can be shifted by a knee lever l2 joined to arm Ill by a cable I3 suitably guided, as by a pulley l4. By shifting the shutters a crescendo and diminuendo effect can be obtained as will be obvious.

The strings S are located where desired, according to the make of piano and each string is provided with the usual or any preferred keyoperated hammer action A.

A rail 15, pivoted at its ends as shown at I 6, is located above and extends across the strings S and has a tremolo arm I! to which is secured one end of a cable l8. This extends downwardly through the sounding board B and the bottom of easing I and thence under a guide pulley 19 to another guide pulley 20 from which it is extended to the wrist pin 2| of a friction wheel 22. This wheel has a shaft 23 journaled in one end of a tubular lever 24 the other end of which is upturned as at 25 to receive a lubricant. At an intermediate point the lever is fulcrumed in a bracket 26 and a light spring 2'! bearing on the lever serves to hold the wheel 22 normally elevated as shown in Figure 5.

Mounted for rotation below wheel 22 but normally out of contact therewith is a friction disk 28 having a peripheral groove 29 in which is seated an endless belt 38 driven by the pulley 3| of an electric motor 32 controlled by an electric switch 33 located where it can be reached conveniently by the performer.

Connected to that end of lever 24 remote from wheel 22 is an operating cable 34 which extends upwardly .over a guide pulley 35 and thence laterally into engagement with another guide'pulley 36 or the like and to a, pull handle 31, located under the keyboard.

The motor and those parts heretofore described as driven thereby cooperate with the wheel 22 and its connections, to constitute the tremelo mechanism of the instrument and operate in the manner hereinafter explained.

Brackets 38 are secured to and move with rail 15 and to each of them is pivotally connected a bowing lever 39 formed preferably of a light tube of metal as shown in Figure 4:. One end of the lever is downturned as at and merges into a a flattened finger 4! in which are gripped the ends of a spring wire 42. This wire is bent to form an elongated tapered loop the free small end of which carries a contact piece 43 of leather, fibre or other suitable material. The sides of the loop are offset downwardly close to the contact piece 43 as shown at 44 so as to increase the ability of the piece 43 to vibrate when the mechanism is in action.

A cord 45 is fastened at one end to the depending portion 39 by a screw 46 or the like, and is extended downwardly under and along finger 4| and through loop 42. It then extends downwardly over the contact piece 43 and is fastened securely at its lower end to the particular string with which the lever 39 is associated, it being understood that one of these levers is provided for one string of, each key of the keyboard. The loop 42 serves to hold the string under constant tension.

The levers 39 are all lined up so that their contact points will be substantially equal dis tances from the periphery of a roller 41 constituting the bowing element. This roller extends past all the springs 42 and contact pieces 43 and is gradually tapered toward one end, the large end being adjacent to the cords 45 of the strings of high pitch while the small end is adjacent to the cords connected to the strings of low pitch. The surface of the roller has annular shallow grooves 48, one groove being provided for and adapted to receive each cord 45.

The bowing roller or element can be made of glass or other suitable material and can have a rosined surface which normally is out of contact with the cords 45 at the contact pieces 43.

A shaft 49 carries the bowing roller 41 and has a pulley 58 engaged by an endless belt 51 guided about pulleys 52 and 53. Pulley 53 is secured to the upper end of a shaft 54 the lower end of which carries a pulley 55 located under casing I. An endless belt 56 drives this pulley from a sleeve-like pulley 51 extending from one side of. a friction wheel 58 journaled on a shaft 59. This shaft supports the wheel 58 beneath and in contact with friction disk 28 and is slidable as well as rotatable in its bearings 60. A hook 6| or the like is swiveled on one end of shaft 59 and one end of an operating cable 62 is attached thereto. This cable is secured at its other end to a knee lever 63 under the keyboard and it is guided at intermediate points by pulleys 64 or the like whereby a lateral movement of the lever from knee pressure will cause the cable to pull the shaft 59 longitudinally and move the friction wheel 58 toward the margin of disk 28. The shaft 59 does not extend diametrically across disk 28 but is slightly to one side of the center of the disk. Thus when the disk is rotating in the direction of the arrow in Figure 3 it not only rotates the wheel 28 but also exerts a drag thereupon which tends to draw the wheel toward the center of the disk and maintains the cable 62 taut.

The key action of the piano includes a damper D the lifting rod d of which is adapted to be actuated by a key K as clearly shown in Figure 1. A lifter block 55 attached to the back catch C, is also operated by key K to actuate a lifter rod 66 having a yoke 67 at its upper end slidable in a guide 68. The yoke is engaged by a pad 69 adjustably connected to the lever 39 thereabove so that when rod 65 is pushed upwardly the lever 39 will swing to advance contact piece 43 toward roller 41 and grip the cord 45 between said piece and the roller.

In practice the motor 32 can be cut out and the instrument played like an ordinary piano. When the violin tones are to be produced the motor is started and will drive the roller 4'l through disk 28, belts 30 and 56, shaft 54 and its pulleys and belt 5| and its pulleys. The roller will move in the direction of the arrow in Figure 1. When a key K is operated motion will be transmitted to its lever 39, causing contact piece 43 to press cord 45 into the adjacent shallow groove 48 in roller 41 where it will be vibrated and the vibrations transmitted to the string S to which the cord is attached. The groove will prevent side slip of the cord and resultant bad tone quality.

The volume of tone can be varied by increasing the speed of the roller 41. This can be done by pressing on lever 63 to move wheel 58 toward the periphery of disk 28. When the lever is relieved from pressure the disk 28 will drag the Wheel 58 and its shifting mechanism back to normal positions.

A tremolo effect can be had by pulling handle 31. This will swing lever 24 against the action of spring 2'! and move wheel 22 into contact with disk 28. The wheel thus will be rotated and its wrist pin 2| will pull intermittently on cable l8 and arm I'l, thereby setting up a rapid oscillation of rail l5 and the parts carried thereby.

A swell is obtained by operating the lever 12 to open or close the shutters 2.

One set of strings is provided for every key K except the lower bass. The hammer operated by each key strikes all of the strings of the set while only one string of each set is vibrated by the bowing mechanism. Thus both a piano and a violin tone can be obtained.

Instead of pressing the cord against the bowing roller the tip 18 of the spring 42 can be extended past the cord so as to constitute the roller engaging element. See Figure 8.

What is claimed is:

1. In a violin piano the combination with a sounding string, and a lever, of a motor driven bowing roller, a taut cord connected to the string and lever, a contact piece carried by the lever, and a key operated means for shifting the lever into position for vibrating the cord from the bowing roller.

'2. In a violin piano a sounding string, a bowing lever, a taut cord connecting the lever and string, key operated means for shifting the lever and cord, and a motor driven bowing roller for V1- brating the cord when shifted.

3. In a violin piano the combination with a sounding string, and a lever, of a motor driven bowing roller, a taut cord connected to the string and lever, a contact piece carried by the lever and engaging the cord, and a key operated means for actuating the lever to compress the cord between the contact piece and the roller.

4. In a violin piano a sounding string, a bowing lever, a motor driven bowing roller, a taut cord connecting the lever and string, a contact piece resiliently connected to the lever and engaging the cord, and key operated means for shifting the lever to compress the cord between the contact piece and the roller.

5. In a violin piano a bowing lever, a motor driven bowing roller, a sounding string, key operated means for shifting one end of the lever toward the roller, and means carried by the lever for engagement by the roller when the lever is shifted and for transmitting vibrations to the string, said means including a taut cord extending from the lever to the string.

6. In a violin piano a bowing lever, a motor driven bowing roller, a sounding string, key operated means for shifting one end of the lever toward the roller, and means carried by the lever for engagement by the roller when the lever is shifted and. for transmitting vibrations to the string, said means including a spring on the lever and a taut cord connecting the spring and the string.

7. In a violin piano a bowing lever, a motor driven bowing roller having an annular groove, a sounding string, key operated means for shiting one end of the lever toward the roller, and means carried by the lever for engaging in the groove of the roller when the lever is shifted toward the roller and for transmitting vibrations to the string, said means including a spring on the lever and a taut cord connecting the spring and the string.

8. In a violin piano a bowing lever, a motor driven bowing roller having an annular groove, a sounding string, a key operated lifting rod, a yoke thereon, adjustable means for thrusting from the rod to the lever to move one end of the lever toward the roller, and means carried by the lever for engaging in the groove of the roller when the lever is shifted toward the roller and for transmitting vibrations to the string, said means including a spring on the lever and a taut cord connecting the spring and the string.

9. In a violin piano a bowing lever, a bowing roller having an annular groove, a sounding string, a motor driven friction'disk, a friction wheel engaged with one face of the disk and mounted for rotation about an axis at one side of the center of the disk, means for shifting the wheel axially toward the margin of the disk to increase its speed of rotation, said disk constituting means for dragging the wheel toward the center of the disk and reducing its speed when relieved from the action of its shifting means, means for transmitting motion from the wheel to the roller, key operated means for shifting one end of the lever toward the roller, and means carried by the lever for engaging in the groove of the roller when the lever is shifted toward the roller and for transmitting vibrations to the string, said means including a spring on the lever and a taut cord connecting the spring and string,

10. In a violin piano a tiltable rail, a bowing lever carried thereby, a bowing roller, means including a motor driven friction disk for operating the roller, a sounding string, key operated means for shifting one end of the lever toward the roller, and means carried by the lever for engaging in the groove of the roller when the lever is shifted toward the roller and for transmitting vibrations to the string, said means including a spring on the lever and a taut cord connecting the spring and the string, a friction wheel, means operated by said wheel for oscillating the rail, and means for shifting the wheel into contact with the disk for actuation thereby.

11. In a violin piano a sounding string, a bowing roller, a taut cord connecting the lever and string, a motor driven disk, a friction wheel, a connection between said wheel and lever for oscillating the lever, means for shifting" the wheel to disengage it from the disk, means for moving the wheel against the disk, change speed means for transmitting motion from the disk to the roller, a spring on the lever supporting the cord and yieldingly connected to the lever, and means for shifting the cord and spring toward the roller to vibrate them.

12. In a violin piano a sounding string, a bowing lever, a motor driven bowing roller, a taut cord connecting the lever and string, a spring on the lever and supporting the cord, key operated means for shifting the spring and cord toward the roller for vibration thereby, a casing housing the foregoing, shutters normally closing the casing at the top and means for simultaneously opening or closing the shutters to produce a variable sound volume.

JAMES LUCK WARNER. 

